711
REVIEWS
with
h the
oss oof length
contrasts
ras s in
connected
connec
ed w
he loss
n cer
certain
a n env
environments.
ronmen s One wonders how an 'a'
eng h con
a iss
ha o lowers
S'ss bas
owers too aa, bu
but this
h s iss
of S
basicc prem
Could
d it be 'o'?
o ? One o
too be lowered.
owered Cou
premises
ses iss that
revealss that
ha an
he re
references
erences g
Further
her check
Balto-Slavic
o S av c change
given
ven here revea
checking
ng oof the
change. Fur
supposedlyy a Ba
supposed
will pass through
he following
oo-stem
s em acc
ages ddrons > darans > dards > dadrans>
acc.pl.
p w
hrough the
o ow ng sstages:
h s sequence iss der
abora e
n this
derived
ved by an eelaborate
ddrons > daruns > darus > dadry
dadry.The second dadransin
definite
n e ad
wholee scheme purpor
o exp
purportss to
explain
a n some
analogical
ana
og ca process involving
nvo v ng de
adjectives.
ec ves The who
n S
ha ana
ns ances oof case syncre
Slavic.
av c IIt wou
would
d seem that
analogy
ogy has been aat work
puzzling
puzz
ng instances
syncretism
sm in
but hard
n so con
manner.
contrived
r ved a manner
here, bu
here
hardlyy in
On the who
admirable
rab e job of marsha
whole,
e S has done an adm
marshaling,
ng summar
summarizing,
z ng and
critical
t ca comments
ast th
hiss cr
results
ts of the last
thirty
rty years
years. In h
criticizing
cr
t c z ng the OP research resu
and in
n h
hiss own wr
faulted
ted for excess
excessive
ve specu
speculation,
at on but
writings,
t ngs he can perhaps be fau
will
w
Both
be
Old
O
d Pruss
books
Prussian
an iss an area that forces specu
speculation.
at on
indispensable
nd spensab e
with
th Indo-European interests.
to Ba
scholar
ar w
nterests
Balticists,
t c sts and very st
stimulating
mu at ng to any scho
Old
O
d Pruss
Prussian
an iss one of the few ffields
critical
t ca summary can be
e ds where such a deta
detailed
ed cr
n rea
scholars
ars and to
real ttime.
me What a boon itt wou
would
d be
established
shed scho
be, both to estab
produced in
critical
t ca rev
could
d benef
benefitt from cr
reviews
ews of the substant
substantive
ve
neophytes, iff every generat
neophytes
generation
on cou
n aall ffields!
issues
ssues in
thiss method of presentat
e ds! I congratu
presentation.
on
congratulate
ate S on h
hitting
tt ng upon th
These books are not easy to read
read, but they are very reward
nformat ve; and
rewarding
ng and informative;
will
w
the reader
discussion
scuss on of
quickly
qu
ck y beg
begin
n to apprec
appreciate
ate Schma
Schmalstieg's
st eg s forthr
forthright
ght d
the many controvers
n O
controversial
a quest
Old
d Pruss
Prussian.
an
questions
ons in
[Received
[Rece
ved 12 August 1977
1977.]]
Le verbe en gbaya: etude syntax
verbal en gbaya
syntaxique
que et semant
semantique
que du syntagme verba
ROULON.(Bibliotheque
ROULON(B
kara 'bodoe
bodoe (Repub
(Republique
que Centrafr
Centrafricaine).
ca ne) By PAULETTE
b otheque
de laa SELAF
Paris:
s: Soc
d'Etudes
Etudes L
Societe
ete d
SELAF, 51-52
51-52.)) Par
Linguistiques
ngu st ques et Anthropo
Anthropologiques
og ques
de France
1975. Pp
187.
France, 1975
Pp. 187
J. SAMARIN
Reviewed
Rev
ewed by WILLIAM J
SAMARIN, Universityof
Universityof Toronto
n France a recent erupt
n ffield
We have w
witnessed
tnessed in
e d research
research. Most of itt has
eruption
on in
in
n
former
n Afr
been done
French co
colonies-much
on es-much
of it,
ke th
thiss one
t like
one, in
Africa;
ca; but
Pacific
f c islands,
South Amer
visited
s ted by French
America,
ca the Pac
s ands and even Nepa
Nepal have been v
Thiss act
investigators.
nvest gators Th
activity
v ty interestingly
nterest ng y para
parallels
e s the era of 'descriptive
descr pt ve linguistics'
ngu st cs
in
n the Un
United
ted States: the effort to wr
write
te grammars of 'unwritten
unwr tten languages'
anguages has
with
th ethnograph
work.
been coup
coupled
ed w
ethnographicc work
The center for aall th
thiss act
Paris-based
s-based Centre Nat
National
ona de la
a Recherche
activity
v ty iss the Par
with
w
th
its
ts
teams
of
Scientifique,
Sc
ent f que
workers, projects
workers
projects, project d
directors,
rectors sem
seminars,
nars
Thiss study by Rou
Roulon
on issues
ssues from the act
conferences, and research reports
conferences
reports. Th
activities
v t es
of the group labelled
abe ed ER (presumab
which
ch has been
(presumably
y Equ
Equipe
pe de Recherche) 74
74, wh
concerned w
with
th centra
central Afr
Africa-Chad,
ca-Chad
Cameroon, and the Centra
Cameroon
Central Afr
African
can Repub
Republicc
director
rector from the beg
(now Emp
Empire).
re) Its d
beginning,
nn ng as far as I know
know, has been
Thomas.11 The major pub
outlet
et for ER 74 iss the Soc
Jacqueline
Jacque
ne Thomas
publishing
sh ng out
d'Etudes
Etudes
Societe
ete d
1 She iss a
also
so d
director
rec or oof the
he Labora
Laboratoire
o re des Langues eet C
Civilisations
v sa ons a Trad
Tradition
on Ora
Oralee (27,
27
Paul Ber
rue Pau
Bert, 94200 Ivry
Ivry, France
France), wh
which
ch was es
established
ab shed in
n 1976
1976. Accord
According
ng to
o itss first
rs research
II a pour ob
e ude des ccivilisations
v sa ons de l'oralite
report, 'II
repor
objectif
ec l'etude
approche linguistique
ngu s que eet par
ora e par l'approche
rad on ora
orale.
e Le pr
l'analyse
ana yse de laa tradition
principe
nc pe fondamental
ondamen a garan
garant de son homogene
reside
de dans
homogeneitee res
laa concep
a soc
conception
on de laa langue,
angue sstructure
ruc ure de la
onc on essen
essentielle
e e de
societe,
e e cons
consideree
deree dans sa fonction
communication'
commun
ca on (Rapport
Rappor d
d'activite,
ac v e 1977
1977, p
p. 8
8).
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712
LANGUAGE, VOLUME 54, NUMBER 3 (1978)
France. I know little of its activities
activities, but
Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France
there is reason to believe that it was founded by Thomas and her team; its first
1967.
publication appeared in 1967
ER 74 has developed its own framework for the description of languages
languages, but
its essentials are those of Andre Martinet's neo-Praguean distributionalism
distributionalism. For
example, the traits that define grammatical categories include: type of sentence
example
('enonce'); position in a given type of sentence; possibilities of substitution
substitution,
and
mutual
of
co-existence,
co-existence
exclusion; possibilities combinations; and membership
in a given type of inventory (33)
(33). Thus there are minimal two-term sentences(e
(e.g.
g
'child + three' = 'There are three children')
etc.
children'), three-term expanded sentences
sentences, etc
R applies the methodology without apologies to the description of the verb
phrase ('syntagme verbal') in a west-central dialect of Gbaya
Gbaya. It is not her purpose
to wrestle with any set of problems in general linguistics
linguistics, or even in African
linguistics. After identifying the grammatical categories
linguistics
categories, she describes verb morphology and verb phrases in separate chapters
chapters. She sets up three modes ('reel'
('reel',
'virtuel', 'imperatif')
'virtuel'
'imperatif'), two aspects ('acheve' and 'inacheve'
'inacheve', what I call perfective
and imperfective)
modales', some appearing in each of the
imperfective), and several 'formes modales'
three modes
modes. Of all the possibilities
possibilities, nineteen exist in Gbaya
Gbaya.
Thiss d
Th
dialect
a ect iss d
different
fferentenough fromthe
from the Gbeya language
n Samar
described
bedin
Samarin
n
anguageof Bossangoa
Bossangoa, descr
thiss descr
evaluate
uateth
somewhat as an outs
outsider.
der If R
R'ss ana
1966, that I must eva
1966
description
pt onsomewhatas
analysis
analys
ys s iss correct
correct,
the verbsystem
verb system iss rricher
cherthan
than the one found at Bossangoa
Bossangoa. I a
allow
ow that th
thiss may be the case
case,
but I have a fee
feeling
ng that Gbaya can be ana
analysed
ysed somewhat d
differently.
fferent y For examp
example,
e R
describes
descr
besas
neo-aspect fs ffive
as 'neo-aspectifs'
ve verbs of mot
motion,
on used as marksof
marks of verba
verbal aspect when they are
followed
fo
owed by another verb (110): ee.g
g 'He
He WENT (and) k
killed
ed (the dog)
dog).' What we have here iss
something
someth
ng that occurs in
n Gbeya and in
n more or less
ess ssimilar
m ar form in
n other west and centra
central
African
Afr
can languages.
anguages Verb ser
seriation,
at on as itt iss somet
sometimes
mes ca
called,
ed iss in
n fact a much-stud
much-studied
ed phenomenon in
African
canlinguistics.
n Afr
ngu st cs
Another puzz
puzzling
ngpart
part of R
R'ss descr
description
pt oniss the verba
verbal form'lee ree
reel connu
connu', indicating
nd cat ngeeither
ther
an act
action
on or fact known by aall, or a premed
premeditated
tatedact
action-i.e.
on- e known by the speaker(87-8)
speaker(87-8). A
All
but one of her examp
examples
es are trans
translated
ated in
n the present tense(
tense('Traps
Traps catch an
animals'
ma s but 'God
God
created th
things').
ngs ) What iss cur
curious
ous iss that
that, in
n Gbeya
Gbeya, most of R
R'ss examp
examples
es wou
would
d have to be
treatedas NP
treatedas
NP'ss (e
(e.g.
g 'rope
rope for catch
catching
ngan
animals').
ma s ) Th
Thissm
might
ghtbe
be an instance
nstanceof
of a majord
majordifference
fference
between the two d
dialects,
a ects but th
construction
on iss not found at a
thiss construct
all in
n the very ssimilar
m ar Gbaya
dialect
d
a ect of Noss 1973
1973. That work suggeststhat
suggests that R
R'ss ana
analysis
ys s iss wrong
wrong, that she has m
misconstrued
sconstrued
what Noss (p
whatNoss
(p. 72)ca
72) callssthenom
the nominal
na compound
compound. He wou
would
d trans
translate
ateR
R'ssexamp
exampleeas
as
'the
the God who
acts'. And why iss th
acts
thiss construct
construction
onp
placed
aced in
n her tab
tablee among the perfect
perfective
ve
(('acheve')
acheve ) forms?
I ffind
nd severa
several other d
differences
fferencesbetween
between R
R'ss ana
analysis
ys s and that of Noss
Noss, who has spoken the
language
anguagefromch
from childhood
dhoodand
and has ana
analysed
yseditt after be
being
ngtra
trained
nedin
n linguistics.
ngu st cs Comparethe
Comparethe two
descriptions
descr
pt onsof
of h
high
gh tone and low
ow tone imperatives.
mperat ves H
High
gh tone
tone, says R
R, 'indique
nd que une injonction
njonct on
a que
forte, ss'adressant
forte
adressantprec
precisement
sement
quelqu'un'
qu un (98); accord
according
ng to Noss
Noss, itt 'carries
carr es a mean
meaning
ng of
strong emphas
emphasis.
s When very strong emphas
emphasiss iss des
desired
redand
and when the subject iss cclearly
ear yunderunderstood, the subject pronoun may be om
stood
omitted'
tted (39)
(39). Low tone
tone, says R
R, 'indique
nd que une injonction
njonct on
qui constateso
qu
constate soitt uneact
une action
on dejarrealisee,
ea see so
soitt uneact
une action
onqu
qui ne peut
etre contestee(man
contestee (manifestation
festat on
d'une
d
une comp
complicite
c te par exemp
exemple)
e) . . . C
C'est
est un imperatif
mperat fde
concertation'
on (99); but Noss ca
de concertat
callss itt
'a
a m
mild
d imperative
mperat vefrequent
frequentlyyrepeatedsoft
repeated softly
y when itt has not been heard or has been ignored
gnored
the ffirst
rstttime'
me (39)
(39).
Noss correct
correctlyysets
sets off the postc
postclitic
t c--i (141)
(141), a
also
so found in
n Gbeya
Gbeya. It occurs in
nR
R'ss work w
with
th
the mean
meaning
ng of insistence
ns stence in
n at least
east one case
case, but iss concea
concealed
ed by her phono
phonological
og ca ana
analysis:
ys s:
tone changes on long
ong vowe
vowelss are aalways
ways marked
marked, and presumab
presumably
yana
analysed
ysedas
as un
unitt phonemes
phonemes.
'11 + postc
writes
tes mu
mui
postclitic'
t c as m
(107). Th
Thiss iss a cclear
ear case of the way that a ssingle
Thus she wr
mi (107)
ng e
methodological
methodo
og ca or ana
analytical
yt ca schema can interfere
nterferew
with
th accuratedescr
accurate description.
pt on R has adopted
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713
REVIEWS71
here-as in faithfully markingall the vowels for tone, ratherthan leaving an unmarkedone for
either high or low tone-a practice that seems to characterizeER 74's reports. Note also that
there is no motivation for her analysing the same verb stem in differentways: tui and tuy(d)
'place' (107).
One could cite other questionable analyses or debatable matters raised by R's
description. This is to be expected. What I do not understandis the insularity of this
study. It describes an African language with practically no reference at all to other
studies of related dialects and languages. It does not even relate itself to the very
sophisticated literaturein African linguistics that has arisen in the last decade or so.
One gets a sad impression of intellectual isolationism.
REFERENCES
Noss, PHILIP A. 1973. Introduction to Gbaya. Meiganga, Cameroon: Centre de
TraductionGbaya. Pp. 265. (Mimeographed.)
WILLIAM
J. 1966. The Gbeya language. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University
SAMARIN,
of CaliforniaPress.
[Received27 June 1977].
The non-Semitic languages of Ethiopia. Ed. by M. LIONELBENDER.(Committee on
Ethiopian Studies, Occasional papers series, monograph 5.) East Lansing,
Michigan: African Studies Center, Michigan State University, 1976. Pp. xvi, 738.
$10.00.
Reviewed by F. R. PALMER,Universityof Reading
To a large extent, the non-Semitic languages of Ethiopia are co-extensive with
those that were formerly all called Cushitic, but have more recently been divided
into Cushitic and Omotic; several Cushitic languages (in the restricted sense) are
spoken in the south and east of Ethiopia (Somali is an obvious example).
Other languages in the west are, very tentatively, classed together as NiloSaharan. Even today, little is known about most of these languages; hence this
book, with contributions from more than twenty different scholars, is very welcome.
It has five parts: 1, 'Background'; 2, ' Cushitic'; 3, 'Omotic'; 4, 'Nilo-Saharan';
and 5, 'Other topics'.
Most of the chaptersin the three centralparts are structuralsketches of individuallanguages.
Those that are new are extremelyuseful. The chapter on Beja (Richard A. Hudson), however,
has appeared before, with minimal differences; that on Dasenech (Hans-JurgenSasse) is an
elaboration of an earlierarticle. There is one oddity among them, the TG-type analysis of Afar
(Loren Bliese). It is not simply that the TG frameworkdisguises the typological characteristics
that relate the languageto others; Bliese's own presentationis unhelpful.Only the first four PS
rules and part of the lexicon are in the familiar TG symbolization. The remaining PS rules
(called 'subcategorizationrules'), the T rules, and the P rules are stated in full Englishsentences
with terms such as 'become', 'is found in', and 'is derivedfrom', in place of the symbols. This
loses the essential explicitness of the model (which Bender praises in his justification of the
chapter, 14), as well as its economy. Not surprisingly, Bliese's chapter is a very long one; and
its length is extended by the decision to take up a whole page with a distinctive-featurematrix
of the phonemes. This is whol
nce anyone cou
could
d have arr
arrived
vedat
at a ssimilar
whollyy un
uninformative,
nformat ve ssince
m ar
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